You may be right, but Mike Ashley is a cheapskate and unless he thinks that he is getting a good deal he will surely walk away. If both stick to their guns then Carroll will stay, but as I said earlier, I think that we may see him move tomorrow for £15 million, but this depends on who BR is looking to bring in.
Carroll was worth £20m before we bought him and TBH he's worth about the same now. If Newcastle gave us £20m I would want us to take it.
The bottom line is, Brendan Rodgers has handed all of the cards to Newcastle in this ridiculous transfer fiasco. If he'd kept his trap shut and got on with his job, everybody could see that Carroll wasn't part of his plans, to quote the man himself "it's not rocket science", therefore Pardew would have identified the opportunity to explore buying back Carroll but under the radar. Instead it has been a case of dragging Andy Carroll's name through the mud and publicly hanging him out to dry, saying he's 3rd choice and you can't have £35m strikers as 3rd choice. Pardew, and more importantly Ashley knows he's not wanted by Rodgers for 3rd choice now, so why the hell would he go in with a £20m bid for a player who is worth relatively nothing to Liverpool's future? Newcastle can put a 'take it or leave it' offer to LFC, knowing fine well that Rodgers has no money to spend and if he chooses to 'leave it', then he won't get another striker and Newcastle are perfectly happy at least until January with their two goal scorers. To mess up matters further, Liverpool hold no cards in determining Carroll's next destination since they've gone public on trying to offload him to West Ham (West Ham went public) and that backfired, Carroll has stated he'll only go to a team in Europe if he leaves which is essentially his way of saying 'f*ck you Brendan, send me home or I'll sit here on £80k a week and spoil your plans'.
Firstly...who's berating BR? No-one as far as I can see. He's the boss and he does what he thinks right (as I said in my post), if Andy's not for him then he has to get the best price he can and look elsewhere. Managers live and die by these decisions and it takes big cahoonas to make the big calls. Get them right and you get the results and praise that comes with it, get them wrong and inevitably they are held against you. That's the business he's in and I'm sure well aware of that. He's got broad enough shoulders to take any criticism I'm sure. Secondly...AC was in and out of the team so much it was hard to form an opinion either way. He had rubbish games (plenty of them) and he had good games. When given a run of games he seemed to improve and get his confidence back and being a centre forward is such a confidence game. If we sell him then so be it, players come and players go. If we sell him at a low price because we are so desperate for cash then that's another matter but we'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it. Thirdly...Do I think AC is good enough for LFC? Yes I do and I certainly think he has enough about him to develop/be developed by a good manager into a centre backs worst nightmare. That's just my opinion but what does my opinion matter if BR doesn't agree. He's doing things his own way and I admire him for that.
You are prone to the odd bad move when windows are open, that's a fact. I think you need to accept a loss on Carroll, as much as you might rate him he's not in BR's plans - this is the fallout from having two managers who are almost polar opposites in terms of style. It was never going to be a smooth transition and you might have to take more than one on the chin before BR gets it right, that's if he gets the time he needs.
Personally, I like Carroll and I think he is a good athlete. But he is not suited to our style of play. Fast thinking, mobile, intelligent movement is not a part of his game. I'm sure he could develop this in the future but as our £35m lead striker, we need more from him right now. The transfer fee will always weigh him down while he is at Liverpool. It's become quite apparent that we need to raise funds to buy other players. Carroll is not one of our core players and is therefore seen as dispensible. I'm happy to get rid of our Plan B to improve our Plan A. Finally, I already mentioned that AC has the potential to develop his technical game. I think BR thinks that having the big man up front will lead to a default mentality where players will take the easy option and hoof it up. This is not AC's fault. By getting rid of the long ball merchants and the big men up front, it forces us to implement the passing style that BR wants. I believe the sale of AC represents more than just getting rid of a player who doesn't suit us, or raising short term cash. It's a statement of intent that BR doesn't care how expensive you are or your repuatation, he will get rid of you if you aren't technically good enough. It's a statement of his intent to go with his style with 100% and no half measures. Players like Carroll, Spearing and Adam are being shown the door. Exciting times in my opinion.
All Newcastle have to do is offer the required £20 million fee. I heard a rumour recently that Newcastle never got £35 million, £10 million of which was success based. In other words should Andy Carroll return to Newcastle, Newcastle can sing for that £10 million, as they aren't getting it.
Sure we received all 35m up front and even fined you a little extra (12k i think) for paying late. Thats a rumour that went round at the time from a paper that recorded Llambias saying it.
Liverpool may have to accept a loss, but the loss Liverpool accept will be decided by not Fat Sam or Alan ****ing Pardew..it will be decided by Liverpool.
We paid 35mill straight up since we had just gotten a boatload of cash off Chelsea. Sell him for not a cent less than 20mill. That said, if we do keep him, he won't get much play time. He simply doesn't fit the system Rogers wants to emply and I don't see him ever developing that side of his game sufficiently enough to slot in. He is not a fast player, he is not intelligent or skillfull - he never will be. He is what he is, a typical battering ram of a beast centre forward, and he's good at what he does in a team which plays to his strengths - we do not nor will we under Rogers. Carroll has to go. Unfortunately, BR has been very naive and now the world knows we don't want him and will offer us the bare minimum to take him off us.
The good news is the final decision on any move does not rest entirely with Brendan Rodgers. Yes he wants Andy Carroll out, but its Brendans boss Ian Ayre that decides for how much.
"You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that Andy has been a cover player for us," Rodgers told reporters. "He has been excellent in terms of his attitude and his acceptance of where he is at but, for us as a football club, and I am talking generically here, I'm not sure we are in a position to have £35m players as third-choice strikers or wingers who might be on £5m-£6m a year. I don't think the football club is in that position. "This is the challenge that I have to work something but it is not going to be done overnight." Reckon Brendan is cracking up already. His much heralded stance on not having a Director of Football, which meant in reality he got a Transfer Panel instead, showed just how naive he is, now this nonsense. Out of his depth.
Oh goodie, David has stopped by again to offer us his usual positive insight into the perfect mechanics of a football club and how Liverpool are so far from it. Davie my boy: We don't tell you to f*ck off because you come across as infinitely arrogant & negative, No! Its merely because we are in awe of your outstanding football knowledge and it's almost painful for us mere LFC supporters to bask in the light of your perfectly run club.......who are they again?
Newcastle pay £20mil, up front no monthly instalments, that would mean we paid 15 for him which was roughly what he should have been worth at the time we bought him. But I also want Llambias head on a silver platter and a written letter from Fat Mike admitting he's a ****. In fact, Dont sell to Newcastle at all until those two are removed, dont want to see them come out any better than we've already made them.
Frank, I am arrogant, always have been. My Club is anything but perfectly run. Don't know any that is tbh. If you don't see Brendan Rodgers contradicting himself every time he speaks, fine. If you don't see LFC trying to operate on the cheap, by bringing in a patsie Manager, who will bitch and moan about nowhere near enough money to develop a squad capable of reaching the Champions League, but ultimately suck it up because he is operating at a level he should only be dreaming of at this stage of his career, then fair enough again. No need for anyone to be rude.
